Not Just a Fad: Top Three Trends in Market Research for an Innovative Future

Many of us in the market research industry like to think of ourselves as innovators. We try to predict what will be the next big thing will be to take our industry by storm. Despite all of the excitement and buzz that revolves around the latest and greatest technologies, the industry as a whole has remained slow to adopt innovation. While we may be ready to embrace innovation, brands, justifiably, want to know that a new technique will work before they pour their resources into it.

With the release of the GRIT survey, which attempts to take a pulse on the industry, we found ourselves wondering where we personally saw the market research industry headed. Our prediction is that the techniques that will prevail over the next year will be those that strike a balance between innovation and continued utility. Currently our industry is in a rut: the methodologies in play are useful, but the processes used to carry them out are highly inefficient and not innovative. In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) and Focus Groups are a prime example. Speaking with consumers isn’t a problem in itself, using traditional and inefficient methods, such as traveling to conduct face-to-face research in facilities, is. Conversely, over the years, we have seen a lot of tools hit the market that are exciting and innovative, but not very useful. Knowing what we know about the industry’s hesitancy to change, we took a deliberate and realistic stance about what we might expect.

Over the next couple of weeks, keep an eye on our blog as we will dive deeper into why we believe that these three trends will find success and adoption in the market research industry.

At Discuss.io, we realize that feedback is critical to success. Our platform was built (and continues to be improved upon) based on the feedback that we receive from our customers on a daily basis. For that reason, we’re excited to see what insights the GRIT survey will uncover; we can’t wait to use that knowledge to continue to be a part of the evolution of our industry. We encourage you to participate in the GRIT survey to help shape the future of market research.